Inmates selling Jailhousefire hot sauce that's 'murder on your tastebuds'
Filed under: Make Money Fast, Food, Shopping
Calling it "murder on your taste buds" and "lethal," jail inmates in Florida are making and selling jailhouse fire hot sauce to the public as a way to add some spice to their food and add a little revenue to the inmate canteen."It packs more heat than the heat," is one line used in a commercial for Jailhouse Fire hot sauces made by Hillsborough County inmates at the Falkenberg Road Jail as part of the horticulture training program.
The three flavors are Original, Smoke and No Escape, which is billed as the hottest. Five-ounce bottles sell for $7. They were being sold for a part of a day last week outside the jail's main entrance, and they aren't sold in stores.
But as the TV ad says of the hot sauces, only available online -- "It's not out yet, but you can order it online."
Along with going into the inmate canteen, revenue also goes to culinary and horticulture programs for inmates.
I've been to state prisons in California where inmates make artwork, piggybanks and other things to sell in the inmate store. They're a great way, prison officials say, to help the inmates channel some of their energy and learn a trade, such as woodworking. But making hot sauce and selling it online sounds like it would be a bigger seller.
The inmates had been growing hot peppers for about a year as part of a horticulture program when one of them suggested making them into a commercial sauce, according to an Associated Press story.
They spent two years perfecting the recipe, a hybrid of Caribbean-style hot sauce and a mustard sauce that includes habaneros, scotch bonnets and jalapenos. Inmates get to use some of their own sauce on their meals, which can be a bit bland in jail.
"The food here is kind of institutionalized, so it helps," Allen Boatman, the horticulture program's director, told AP.
Inmates have their own in-house version of Jailhouse Fire, which is considerably hotter than what they sell to the public.
"It's a macho thing," Boatman said. "You know, 'I can eat the hottest pepper.'"
To get the hottest version of the hot sauce, you'd have to do something you probably don't want to do -- commit a crime in Hillsborough County.
Aaron Crowe is a freelance journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Reach him at www.AaronCrowe.net
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-10-2009 @ 6:01PM
bandicoot5 said...
My uncle had worked in this program when he was a "guest" at FRJ. It is much more involved than just planting and watering. The process of seed gathering, sorting and tending to the plants, is real work. Selling the hot sauce will give the inmates a sense of pride and fulfillment. The money that is being made is going back into the program and into the jail. This is good for the taxpayers. Looks like a win-win situation!
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8-12-2009 @ 9:27AM
guy said...
The tag line say's "Calif. inmates have "hot" business". Then th article is about Florida? It dun don soun lak dem felers at dat der walit pop nos wut days tawkin abouts.
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8-12-2009 @ 10:48AM
Steven said...
The tagline said "FLORIDA Inmates Have 'Hot' Business" to me. Either AOL changed the line or you misread it.
8-12-2009 @ 1:09PM
KC said...
Does anyone outside a prison REALLY want to eat something made by inmates? I'm shocked that they're even allowed to market it. I hope the FDA tests the convicts making it for diseases such as Hepatitis, which runs rampant throughout the prison systems in every state in the US. There is absolutely NO WAY I would eat this stuff. Ever.
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8-18-2009 @ 10:58AM
JDSTEAKMAN said...
amen to that i dont get it
8-12-2009 @ 1:16PM
rich said...
no way i would eat this. they probably spit in it, or worse, to get back at people on the outside.
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8-12-2009 @ 1:41PM
Phoo said...
LET'S SEE A FOOD PRODUCT FROM CRIMINALS. I WONDER IF IT HAS ANY SPIT , SEMEN , OR URINE IN IT?? HELLO THEY ARE CRIMINALS WITH CRIMINAL MENTALITY AND BEHAVIOR THAT IS WHY THEY ARE IN JAIL!!!!!!
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8-12-2009 @ 1:58PM
sharon said...
And it is the mentality of civilians who assume all inmates have criminal alterior motives that keep inmates returning to prison.
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8-12-2009 @ 2:59PM
KevyMetal said...
I don't see the connection you're going for, Sharon. But staying on subject, not all of them may have alterior criminal motives when it comes to food prep. Their intentions might not be criminal in this case, but what happens if one of them carrying a disease sneezes in the general area that the food is being prepared? It's a fact that a majority, close to 100% of all inmates in this country, do have horrific one, if not more, disease and should never be allowed to handle food products. Sharon, if you think this is a product you'd risk your own person health for or the health of your family, then by all means have at it.
8-12-2009 @ 3:38PM
Bud Maxwell said...
Remember that Al Capone died of Syphilis. He carried it all the way through his time in Alcatraz, without any aid from the prison or government health facilities. Finally meeting his end as a free man, the legacy of "what makes "Bubba" silly lives on!" LOL.
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8-21-2009 @ 4:28PM
Allen Boatman said...
The sauce is bottled and pasteurized at a private sector co-packing operation in Clearwater. The inmates grow the peppers, some of the herbs (not herb), and the Meyer's Lemons that are used in the sauce, so there are no opportunities for the inmates to "contaminate" the sauce.
These guys are taught Vocational Horticulture, that is my main mission, which is a multi-billion dollar industry in Florida, so that when they are released they can do legal, legitimate work when they are released. Our program reduces recidivism from 70% to 30%. So I am very positive about what we do there at the Jail (not a prison). These are small time offenders, and are doing less than a year in a county jail. The sauce is just a side business with a nice hook, which brings in extra money so we can use that instead of your tax money. Naturally, I hope our program does not get cut, also.
Bandicoot 5 please contact me.
best wishes,
Allen
ps feel free to write to me at aboatmanathcsodottampadotfldotus
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